Stateside Virgin Islanders

Virgin Islands Americans

Total population
U.S. Virgin Islands origin: 15,014
Regions with significant populations
South Florida, Orlando, Atlanta, New York City, Houston
Languages
English, Virgin Islands Creole, American English
Religion
Predominantly Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Caribbean Americans

Stateside Virgin Islands Americans are West Indian Americans who hold US citizenship and who have migrated from the U.S. Virgin Islands to the continental United States, and their descendants.

Persons born in the U.S. Virgin Islands are United States citizens, and as a result do not go through the legal immigration procedures a typical West Indies immigrant would. U.S. Virgin Islanders in the U.S. are considered part of the Caribbean American immigrant community.

It is difficult to determine how many Virgin Islanders reside in the United States. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, there are 15,014 of U.S. Virgin Islands ancestry residing in the continental United States. However, a count of American residents with "U.S. Virgin Islands ancestry" excludes most U.S. Virgin Islands-born immigrants in the United States. Because of a high incidence of inter-Caribbean migration throughout the 1960s and 1970s, most native-born Virgin Islanders today are one or two generations removed from other Caribbean islands and would not necessarily define themselves as having "U.S. Virgin Islands ancestry." For example, Tim Duncan is a St. Croix native with Anguillian ancestry.

Demographics

Virgin Island Americans includes Americans with ancestry from both the US Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands, together numbering about 25,000. Majority of Virgin Island Americans are of black Afro-Caribbean descent, many of whom descend from African slaves brought to the islands in the colonial area. A large portion descends from black or mixed race immigrants who came from other parts of the Caribbean including Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and many smaller countries in the Lesser Antilles.

Many Virgin Island Americans concentrate in areas with a large overall Caribbean population, including areas like New York, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

Notable people

Actors

• Wayne Brady (born 1972), actor; born in Georgia
• Lisa Canning (born 1966), television actress; born on St. Thomas
• Kelsey Grammer (born 1955), actor; born on St. Thomas
• Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (born 1953), actor; born in New York City
• Jasmin St. Claire (born 1970), adult film actress; born in Christiansted, St. Croix
• Karrine Steffans (born 1978), New York Times bestselling author, former hip hop music video performer, actress; born on St. Thomas

Artists

• Fraser Kershaw, philanthropist, film artist

Athletes

• Raja Bell (born 1976), basketball player; born on St. Croix
• Tombi Bell (born 1979), basketball player, who last played for the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA; born on St. Croix
• Joe Christopher (born 1935), the first Virgin Islander to play in Major League Baseball; born in Frederiksted, St. Croix
• Midre Cummings (born 1971), baseball player; born on St. Croix
• Tim Duncan (born 1976), professional basketball player (San Antonio Spurs); born in Christiansted, St. Croix
• Emile Griffith (1938–2013), boxer; born on St. Thomas
• Elrod Hendricks (1940–2005), Major League Baseball player and coach; born in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
• Julian Jackson (born 1960), boxer; born on St. Thomas
• Calvin Pickering (born 1976), baseball player; born on St. Thomas
• Sugar Ray Seales (born 1952), 1972 Olympic Gold Medalist (139 lbs.) boxer; born on St. Croix.

Musicians

• Alton Adams (1889–1987), musician, first black bandmaster in the United States Navy; born in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
• Bennie Benjamin (1907–1989), composer, songwriter, philanthropist; born in Christiansted, St. Croix
• Jon Lucien, jazz musician; born on Tortola, raised on St. Thomas
• Rock City, a musical duo of composed brothers Timothy and Theron Thomas, born on St. Thomas
• Sonny Rollins, jazz musician; born in New York, of St. Thomas (mother) and St. Croix (father) descent

Political leaders

• Judah P. Benjamin (1811–1884), Secretary of the Treasury, Confederate States of America; born in Christiansted, St. Croix
• Frank Rudolph Crosswaith (1892–1965), socialist and labor leader; born in Frederiksted, St. Croix
• Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804), first United States Secretary of the Treasury, an American "Founding Father", economist, and political philosopher; born in Nevis, raised on St. Croix
• Hubert Henry Harrison (1883–1927), orator, political activist; born in St. Croix
• Elizabeth Anna Hendrickson (1884–1946), civil rights leader; born in St. Croix
• Casper Holstein (born 1888), humanitarian; born in St. Croix
• Roy Innis (born 1934), African-American activist, civil rights leader; born in St. Croix
• J. Raymond Jones (1899–1991), political leader, humanitarian; born in St. Thomas
• John de Jongh (born 1957), past governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, former financial executive; born in St. Thomas
• William Leidesdorff (1810–1848), entrepreneur; born in St. Croix
• Ruby Margaret Rouss (1921–1988) first black woman to be elected to preside over a state legislature; born in St. Croix
• Terence Todman (born 1926), ambassador; born in the U.S. Virgin Islands
• Denmark Vesey (1767–1822), slave revolt leader; born on St. Thomas
• David Levy Yulee (1810–1886), U.S. Senator; born on St. Thomas

Writers and intellectuals

• Barbara Christian (1943–2000), educator, feminist critic; born on St. Thomas

News Media Personalities

• Candace Owens (born 1989), Conservative News Commentator, TurningPointUSA co-founder, YouTube personality;grandmother from St. Thomas

See also

• West Indian Americans
• Stateside Puerto Ricans